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Ivan Reitman Releases Statement On New Ghostbusters Movie Rumours

In the wake of quotes from screenwriter Drew Pearce about the expanded Ghostbusters universe, producer Ivan Reitman has issued a statement on what fans should expect from the franchise, which will reboot next summer with Paul Feig's version, reports EW.com.

"There has been a lot of excitement recently about what is happening with the Ghostbusters franchise. As the producer of the new Ghostbusters film, I feel the need to clarify. There is only one new Ghostbusters movie and that is the Paul Feig directed version coming next July, presently filming and going fantastically. The rest is just noise," Reitman said.

News that Sony would try expand the Ghostbusters universe beyond Feig's film – which stars Melissa McCarthy as Abby Yates, Kristen Wiig as Erin Gilbert, Leslie Jones as Patty Tolan and Kate McKinnon as Jillian Holtzmann – was first revealed back in March 2015. "Paul Feig's film will be the first version of that, shooting in June to come out in July 2016," Reitman said to Deadline at the time. "He's got four of the funniest women in the world, and there will be other surprises to come. The second film has a wonderful idea that builds on that. Drew will start writing and the hope is to be ready for the Russo Brothers’ next window next summer to shoot, with the movie coming out the following year. It's just the beginning of what I hope will be a lot of wonderful movies."

At the time it was speculated that Channing Tatum and Chris Pratt could be involved in the future film, but according to sources close to Sony, neither actor have had formal discussions about the idea. (A rep for Pratt told EW that he is not involved in any Ghostbusters movie.)

This week, Pearce explained that he had worked on a Ghostbusters "bible" that would include a mixed gender team of paranormal busters, which would be a much better storyline than a all-female line-up.

"I've finished my work on that in the last couple weeks. Obviously it's top secret, but there’s a gigantic bold idea that I came up with, and the Russo brothers — who did Captain America: The Winter Soldier and are doing Civil War at the moment — and Ivan Reitman, who did the original movie, are going to take that and run with it," Pearce told MTV. He later clarified on Twitter that no script had been written.

Sony recently formed Ghostcorps, a new production company whose principals include original Ghostbusters architects Ivan Reitman and Dan Aykroyd; they will have offices at Sony with the mission to create branding opportunities based on the 1984 and 1989 comedy classics.

Two years after the all-female reboot of the beloved 1980s franchise arrived, original star Dan Aykroyd is now promising that a true Ghostbusters 3, starring the three surviving OG ‘busters, is on its way. Many thought the death of Harold Ramis, who played Egon Spengler, in 2014 had put paid to a proper reunion, but Aykroyd’s comments suggest that we can look forward to him teaming up with Bill Murray and Ernie Hudson in the near future.

While speaking on The Big Interview With Dan Rather, the man fans know as Dr. Ray Stantz, the heart of the Ghostbusters agreed with Rather’s wording that he was talking about making a “full-blown third Ghostbusters,” with an unknown writer already currently working on the script. Obviously, Aykroyd wouldn’t let on to anything about story details, but he did tease that it’ll try and recapture what worked so well about the original films while giving it a “21st century” twist.

“I think we got a story that’s gonna work. It’s being written by a really goo…

Richard Shotwell/Invision/AP/REX/Shutterstock; Columbia Pictures (3); Everett Collection
If so, there's good news from the world of Gozer — there’s a new Ghostbusters movie in the works!

Entertainment Weekly has learned exclusively that Jason Reitman will direct and co-write an upcoming film set in the world that was saved decades previously by the proton pack-wearing working stiffs in the original 1984 movie, which was directed by his father, Ivan Reitman.

“I’ve always thought of myself as the first Ghostbusters fan, when I was a 6-year-old visiting the set. I wanted to make a movie for all the other fans,” Reitman says. “This is the next chapter in the original franchise. It is not a reboot. What happened in the ‘80s happened in the ‘80s, and this is set in the present day.”